A year and a half ago, I joined a zine collective founded by FLINTA* women based in Berlin. For those who don’t know, FLINTA* is a German acronym for women, lesbians, inter, non-binary, trans and agender people.
The idea behind Zine Verschenken came from the German phrase “zu verschenken”, which means “to give away”. It’s what you’ll often find written on cardboard boxes placed on windowsills, street corners and sidewalks. In Berlin, there’s also a number of community spots in almost every neighbourhood that’s dedicated for locals to donate or find pre-loved items like books, toys and clothes.
Back in June 2023, we participated in Berlin’s biggest art festival that is free to the public: 48 Stunden Neukölln. The festival took place over a weekend, and our venue was at a public community space. Unfortunately, having a outdoor art space while it was raining so heavily meant that we had no other choice but to postpone our event on the opening night of the festival. The next days went by pretty well and we were able to keep it as a passive space
On 9th September 2023, we hosted an art party to celebrate one year together and 14 editions. The event took place at Open Tiny, a small space in Neukölln that welcomes creative people to host events, as long as the intention is not-for-profit.
I learnt a lot from joining this team – from balancing creative deadlines, fundraising and collaborating with people from all walks of life. I’m really proud of how far this project has developed and I can’t wait to see us evolve.
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Nadia Cheung 